1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates generally to an applicator for applying a tissue sealant based on human or animal proteins and more particularly to an apparatus for applying an adhesive formed by combining solutions of the proteins to tissues or organs for sealing wounds, stopping bleeding and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
A fibrin sealant is a biological adhesive formed by mixing two protein components, namely, fibrinogen and thrombin. Each protein component is derived from human plasma and is subjected to virus elimination procedures. The components are typically individually dehydrated and stored in separate vials as sterile freeze-dried powders.
It is known that purified fibrinogen and thrombin, together with a variety of known adjuvants, can be combined in vitro to produce a polymer having great potential benefit, both as a hemostatic agent and as a tissue adhesive. Because of the rapid polymerization upon intimate interaction of fibrinogen and thrombin, it is important to maintain these two blood proteins separate until applied at the application site. These protein solutions are generally delivered by devices such as a dual syringe apparatus. One dual syringe apparatus for applying a fibrinogen-based tissue adhesive is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,049 to Redl et al. Redl et al. disclose a mechanism in which two standardized one-way syringes are held in a support having a common actuating means. The dispensing end of each syringe is inserted into a collection manifold where the two components are mixed. The components are then dispensed through a common needle capable of covering a limited area of the application site.
However, it is sometimes desirable or necessary to cover a broad area of a wound, either to stop bleeding, to fix tissue or to prevent infection and sometimes it is desirable to cover a limited area. It is also desirable to prevent the two components from mixing within the dispensing device.
Further, all known devices for dispensing solutions of fibrinogen and thrombin require the addition of these proteins in powdered form to the body of the syringe. This makes the proteins susceptible to contamination by impurities which may enter the syringe body. Further still, the use of the syringe body to mix the proteins with water to create the protein solutions can cause the solutions to leak out from either the dispensing end of each syringe or the proximal end of the syringe body.
Additionally, a dual syringe apparatus for the application of fibrinogen and thrombin solutions to an application site generally contains several parts, such as a syringe plunger, a xe2x80x9cYxe2x80x9d manifold connector, a dispensing needle, a syringe holder, syringe needles, and conduits for transporting the solutions to the dispensing needle. Therefore, known fibrin sealant applicators, such as disclosed in U.S. Patent to Redl et al. discussed above, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,368 to Miller et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,942 to Wolf et al. are difficult to reuse. The replenishment of the protein components typically require removing a clip which couples the syringe plunger, removing the syringe plunger, detaching the syringes from the xe2x80x9cYxe2x80x9d connector, removing the syringes from the holder, inserting new syringes, affixing the syringes to the xe2x80x9cYxe2x80x9d connector, adding fibrinogen to one syringe and thrombin to another syringe, adding sterile water to each syringe, replacing the syringe plunger, replacing the plunger clip, and mixing the solutions. In an application where time is of the essence, such a lengthy replenishing process is impractical and cumbersome.
Two applicator embodiments are provided for dispensing a first and a second protein solution to form a biological adhesive. In the first embodiment, the protein solutions can be deflected during dispensing in order for the adhesive to cover a broad area. The applicator includes a housing configured to receive a plurality of reservoirs each having a sealable opening therein; a conduit assembly having a pair of conduits in respective fluid communication with separate of the reservoirs; an activator assembly provided on the housing having an activator moveable from a first position to a second position to pressurize each of the plurality of reservoirs to dispense the biological adhesive components through the pair of conduits to a distal end thereof; and a deflection assembly provided in proximity to the distal end having a deflection member to deflect the biological adhesive components during dispensing.
The first and second components are preferably fibrinogen and thrombin which intermix on an application site to form a fibrin sealant. The deflection assembly includes a deflection member capable of longitudinal movement for blocking and unblocking the solution spray as it is dispensed from the applicator for changing the uniformity of the solutions throughout the application site during dispensing.
In a second embodiment, an applicator is provided for dispensing a first and a second component of a biological adhesive. The applicator includes a housing configured to receive a plurality of collapsible reservoirs and a plurality of vials each having a sealable opening therein; a first conduit assembly having a proximal end configured for respective fluid communication with one of the vials, an intermediate portion made up at least partially by one of the collapsible reservoirs and a distal end configured to be open to the environment; a second conduit assembly having a proximal end configured for respective fluid communication with one of the vials, an intermediate portion made up at least partially by one of the collapsible reservoirs and a distal end configured to be open to the environment; an activator assembly provided on the housing having an activator moveable from a first position to a second position to simultaneously compress each of the plurality of reservoirs to dispense the biological adhesive components through the first and second conduits from respective distal ends thereof; and a valve assembly having a first valve operatively associated with the proximal ends of the first and second conduit assemblies for opening and closing the conduits and a second valve independent of the first valve and operatively associated with the distal ends of the first and second conduit assemblies for opening and closing the conduits adjacent the distal ends.
The housing further includes an elongated body portion defining a longitudinal axis for enclosing a portion of the conduit assemblies therein. An applicator tip having two separate channels in communication with the conduits may be provided on a distal end of the elongated body portion for dispensing the components at the application site. Similarly, to the first embodiment, the first and second components are preferably fibrinogen and thrombin which intermix to form a fibrin sealant.